KOTA KINABALU: A man escaped the hangman’s noose after an alternative charge was preferred against him for possessing 288 grams of cannabis.
High Court judge Datuk Nurchaya Hj Arshad duly sentenced the youth, Tuan Muhamad Aqif Tuan Zahadi, 21, to five years’ jail plus 10 strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to an alternative charge under under Section 6 of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and punishable under Section 39A (2) of the same Act, which provides for imprisonment for life or for a term which shall not be less than five years, and he shall also be punished with whipping of not less than ten strokes.
The accused, represented by counsel Edward Paul, was originally charged under Section 39B (1) (a) of the same Act which provides for the mandatory death sentence. However, deputy public prosecutor, Gan Peng Kun, tendered a lesser charge of possessing the cannabis after a representation to reduce the charge was made by the counsel to the deputy public prosecutor’s office.
The accused was caught committing the offence at a security guard house of a residential area at Jalan Kolam near here on May 3, 2017.
In a separate case, Mohd Zilnaz Abas, 27, was jailed five years and ordered to be whipped once by the Magistrate’s Court here for his third conviction of consuming syabu.
Magistrate Cindy Mc Juce Balitus meted out the sentence on the unemployed accused after he admitted to the charge under Section 15 (1) (a) of the same Act 1952.
The accused, who had two previous convictions for a similar offence, was caught at the Karamunsing police station on November 11, 2017 after his urine sample tested positive for drug abuse.
Meanwhile, Aslani Jamil was jailed seven months by the same court after he pleaded guilty to possessing 0.06 grams of syabu in Putatan on November 21, 2017.
Inspector Albert Basiri prosecuted.